CONTENTS
- DETERRENCE: Assuring South Korea and Japan as the role and number of U.S. nuclear weapons are reduced
- DPRK: North Korea may lose 700,00 tonnes in crops: report
- ENERGY SECURITY: 300 million without electricity in India after restoration of power grid
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Territorial disputes prevent cooperation in East Asia
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Understanding the costs and benefits of disaster risk reduction under changing climate conditions: case study results and underlying principles
- AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Smith seeks to boost regional defence
See this week’s blog: President Lee Myung-bak’s diplomatic leadership challenge, from our Governance and Civil Society contributor, Yi Kiho.
DETERRENCE: Assuring South Korea and Japan as the role and number of U.S. nuclear weapons are reduced, Michael Keifer et al, National Institute for Public Policy (1 January 2011) [PDF, 0.7MB]
As the US lowers numbers and reduces the role of nuclear weapons in Northeast Asia, South Koreans have to ask whether the US would trade Seattle for Seoul. Attempting to answer the question almost certainly would have a corrosive effect on assurance.
- Assuring NATO-Europe as the role and number of U.S. nuclear weapons are reduced, ProjectCost: $151,258, Fiscal Year(s):2012-2013, National Institute for Public Policy for US Naval Post-Graduate School (2012) [PDF, 163KB]
- Ten continuities in U.S. nuclear weapons policy, strategy, plans, and forces, Kurt Guthe, National Institute for Public Policy (September 2008) [PDF, 0.8MB
Pakistani air force base with nuclear ties is attacked, Declan Walsh, New York Times (15 August 2012)
DPRK: North Korea may lose 700,00 tonnes in crops: report, Asiaone News (21 August 2012)
Initial reports stating DPRK Leader Kim Jong Eun reportedly will make his first overseas visit as head of state to Iran for a non-aligned movement meeting (NAM) may be incorrect. The symbolism of going to NAM first and not China is extremely strong, if true. Jang Songtaek recently left China empty-handed, but well-feted. DPRK crops will be woefully insufficient this year and set the stage for mass starvation and/or desperate behavior.
- Show me the money: evaluating Jang Song-thaek’s seach for economic cooperation in Beijing, Nathan Beachamp-Mustafaga (19 August 2012)
- Trade fair in North Korea’s northeastern tip gives locals and foreigners chance to make a deal, The Washington Post, (21 August 2012)
ENERGY SECURITY: 300 million without electricity in India after restoration of power grid, The Onion (1 August 2012)
Varieties of energy insecurities: US satire daily The Onion got it right; even as the grid was restored after the world’s biggest power outage, some 300 million people continued in the dark as before the outage, either because they didn’t have a grid connection or power shortages are endemic, hitting mostly the poor and the rural. Outages will continue; the poor will remain in the dark. The rich have backup generators, as do many businesses for whom no power is more expensive than no power.
- Lack of power symbolizes India’s inequalities, Rama Lakshmi and Simon Denyer, The Washington Post (6 August 2012)
- Generators whirring, India’s factories shrug off blackouts, Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters (7 August 2012)
- North India may face power cut as 3 plants temporarily closed, Deccan Chronicle (21 August 2012)
- What was revealed when the lights went out in India, Jonathan Shainin, The New Yorker (August 2012)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Territorial disputes prevent cooperation in East Asia, Park Min-hee and Jeong Nam-ku, Hankyoreh (20 August 2012)
Territorial disputes between China, Japan and the ROK are straining regional ties. Hong Kong activists landed on the Senkaku Islands (Chinese Daioyu), triggering a tit-for-tat response from Japanese activists, followed by protests in China and condemnations from both governments. The ROK rejected Japan’s proposal to bring the Liancourt Rocks dispute to the ICJ and plans to increase security around the islets to deter Japanese activists from landing.
- Japan fears Senkaku landings will fuel dispute but rejects China’s protest, Asahi Shimbun (20 August 2012)
- China protests erupt as Japanese group lands on disputed island, Ma Jie and Frederik Balfour, Bloomberg News (20 August 2012)
- Japan, S. Korea disputed island spat heats up, Steve Herman, Voice of America (21 August 2012)
President Lee Myung-bak’s diplomatic leadership challenge
by Yi Kiho, NAPSNet Contributor
South Korea President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit to Dokdo (Takeshima in Japan) abruptly on the afternoon of August 10……
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Understanding the costs and benefits of disaster risk reduction under changing climate conditions: case study results and underlying principles, Fawad Khan et al., Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (2012) [37.0 MB, PDF]
The costs and benefits of any disaster risk reduction (DRR) intervention depend heavily on the nature of that intervention and on the local context. The two cases (boat winch project to protect the vessels of fishers in Vietnam; & climate-friendly straw-bale building techniques in urban areas of Nepal ) cover three different types of strategies for building climate resilience – medium-term, long-term and small-scale – all of which can play a role in the future of developing countries vulnerable to climate change.
- Are straw-bales the future of sustainable building, Mark Briggs, Ecologist (2012)
- The tuna fisheries of Vietnam – an overview of available information, A.D. Lewis, Oceanic Fisheries Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (2005) [1.38 MB, PDF]
AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Smith seeks to boost regional defence, AAP, The Australian (9 August 2012)
Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia will need to boost defence ties with regional nations as Australia withdraws from Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomons. As an initial step, Mr Smith and Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro will sign a new defence cooperation agreement. He said the focus of defence engagement in our neighbourhood needed to reflect changing strategic circumstances.
- New Indonesian submarines will inspire ‘fear’ in nation’s ‘enemies’: Defense Ministry, Jakarta Globe (7 August 2012)
- The Navy’s role in the Maritime Century, VADM Ray Griggs, Chief of Navy, Lowy Institute (17 August 2012)
- Australian Defence Planners: welcome to New Zealand’s world, Robert Ayson, The Strategist, ASPI (13 August 2012)
The Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly Report presents articles and full length reports each week in six categories: Austral security, nuclear deterrence, energy security, climate change and security, the DPRK, climate change adaptation and governance and civil society. Our team of contributors carefully select items that highlight the links between these themes and the three regions in which our offices are found—North America, Northeast Asia, and the Austral-Asia region. Each week, one of our authors also provides a short blog that explores these inter-relationships.
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Editor
Contributors
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- Governance and Civil Society: Dyana Mardon, Yi Kiho
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- DPRK: Roger Cavazos
- Energy Security: Nikhil Desai
- Austral Peace and Security: Richard Tanter